


birds fly in different directions

by wordswithdragons



Series: sometimes a family is [4]
Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, Found Family, Gen, Ibis centric, canon divergence as of "through the moon", i'm back at it again with the niche brotps bless my soul, lain and tiadrin were at the spire until four months pre start of the show, they were good friends with ibis no i don't take feedback
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-08-17
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:21:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25949524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wordswithdragons/pseuds/wordswithdragons
Summary: Ibis watches two generations of Dragon Guard come and go.
Relationships: Callum & Ibis (The Dragon Prince), Callum/Rayla (The Dragon Prince), Lain/Tiadrin (The Dragon Prince), Rayla & Ibis (The Dragon Prince)
Series: sometimes a family is [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1690177
Comments: 11
Kudos: 114





	birds fly in different directions

_i._

He's a young boy when his mother brings him to the Spire for the first time. The Draconic Royal family usually has at least one mage who tend to them, on the rare instance a dragon needs tending to. A healer and an Arcanum companion. Ibis has spent many weeks waiting for his mother in between trips, watching from his father's shoulders she flies off, rare wings sprouting from her lower back.

"One day," she says, as he looks around in awe, the mountain huge, the sculptures otherworldly, the air fresh in a way he's never breathed before, "you could be the mage of the Storm Spire, too."

And one day, he is.

_ii._

Ibis wasn't sure when the Dragon King and Queen selected Lain and Tiadrin, at first. It's customary of course to select two of each four primary type of elf—two Moonshadows from the meadows, Sunfire from the golden cities, Earthblood from the moors, and Skywing elves from their mountain delves—Tidebound too deep in the sea and Startouch too rare to count. But a married couple? Relatively unheard of, and possibly will lead to conflicting loyalties. If it is a choice between your king or your spouse, who would you choose?

Nor does Ibis spend all his time with the Dragonguard or at the Spire. He comes to check on Zubeia every so often—draconic pregnancy before an egg is laid lasts a while—but still shies away from Avizandum's booming voice. When he is there, though, he spends some time with the other lead Skywing elf, who is uptight and unsmiling, but Ibis is not _bothered_ by much. The younger Skywing elf is Hendyr, who seems to like showing off his rare and beautiful wings at any opportunity. Ibis thinks of the hours he had to pour into learning _manus pluma volantis_ in order to qualify as a mage candidate for the Spire, and if that sours him against his brasher kin, then so be it.

Most of the Dragonguard keep to themselves, content with a life of a duty and solitude, but Lain and Tiadrin are different. They spar together and offer up family style meals. Ibis sees them smiling more than anyone else. They ask him about his home and he tells them, in his own quiet way, about the Feast of Birds and the differences between Skywing villages, like the one he and his father hail from, and more nomadic groups, like the one his mother hailed from. That is not to say that Lain and Tiadrin are any less dedicated or any less reserved than the rest of the Dragonguard. Ibis comes to know in time that they are two of, if not the most, talented fighters in the Dragonguard. Just watching them spar with each other makes him feel exhausted, although he wonders how they'd faire up against magic (a silly thought). But they _do_ try their best to make the Dragonguard feel more like a community rather than comrades. Perhaps because the couple has each other, bound to their duty as much as each other. Perhaps because they are Moonshadow elves, who Ibis knows tend to have a deep sense of community and love that bind them together.

It must've been hard to leave their home; he misses his every time he's away for more than a fortnight.

Ibis thinks that even _before_ he learns about Rayla.

_vi._

"—hey, you're the who thought it'd be a good idea to go flying with Zym when it was that windy outside—"

Callum shoots his girlfriend a look as he picks another feather out of his mouth. "Your sympathy means everything to me."

Ibis watches as Rayla softens, the beads tied around the waist of her Dragonguard armour glinting in the sun as she strides across the pinnacle and picks a stray feather out of his protégé's hair. "Dork," she says fondly and Callum similarly melts.

Ibis has never understood the appeal of young love—or indeed, love in general—but he has to admit they're sweet and easy and make each other happy. He has never seen them be anything else around each other, but he has flown by a grumpy Rayla near the end of long solo shifts or a frustrated Callum at the crack of dawn when a rare spell _doesn't_ come automatically to him, and the way each will immediately light up when the other arrives to soothe the separation.

He has to admit that the way they tease and give light touches reminds him of Rayla's parents, although he does not know how to say it.

For now, he just clears his throat. "I'll teach you a centring spell," he decides. "It'll allow you to re-orientate yourself in the sky, even in a tornado."

Callum grins. "Cool!"

Rayla scoops Zym up from his feet. "And you, wee one, it's time for you to go back to your mama for the afternoon." She leans over and presses a kiss to Callum's cheek. "Have a good lesson."

He smiles after her. "Have a good shift." Then sighs to himself after she's gone, like he still can't believe how happy he is, that this is his life.

It makes Ibis sincerely thankful that the two—one pseudo Dragonguard and one full time—get to be Dragonguard in tentative peacetimes rather than in a long cold war.

_iii._

She's their daughter, Ibis learns, left at three years old to very caring best friends named Runaan and Ethari. "They'll raise her right," Tiadrin says confidently, although sadness tinges her otherwise proud smile. They are parents who have given up raising their child to look after another. Ibis has never wanted a family the way that they apparently did, and so he never had to choose between.

Tiadrin and Lain are good natured and loyal. He's the one who enchants a shadow hawk to carry their letter—one permitted a year—for their daughter's birthday. They compliment his staff, citing one of their best friends as a craftsman. When he is there for dinner, he gives them his extra dessert—he did not become a mage to savour sweet things. They are never late or grow tired and dull eyed on their shifts. They alone have been told what resides in the mirror in the royal family's lair, which even Ibis does not know. Ibis hopes they have made the right choice for themselves—that they will continue to do so.

He hopes it will not tear them apart.

_v._

Ibis doesn't know how to think of them at first, two human princes in fine Katolian red and a stray Moonshadow elf, so clearly the daughter of his disgraced friends. The thought to be dead, now _alive_ and hatched Prince Azymondias, is almost too much to react to, so Ibis barely reacts at all, shuttering his emotions away behind his smooth voice and grave news concerning the Dragon Queen.

In the aftermath of the war, though, he has more time to process. First, that the war itself is finally _over_. Then, that the Dragon Prince has been reunited with a now waking Zubeia. She wants to reform the Dragonguard in this tentative peace and Rayla is the first to volunteer. Even without the armour, she is the spitting image of her parents, only more so one she is adorned by the beads and blues they once wore.

The boy, Callum, is far more meek, especially now there is no dawning battle give him courage. _Mister Ibis sir, I know you don't live permanently at the Spire, but when you are here—you're the first and only Sky mage I know, would you—_

Ibis chuckles. "Yes," he says, "I'll train you."

It turns out to be easier said than done. Callum is an excellent pupil, the most natural one he's ever seen, and quickly surpasses what Ibis can teach him at the Spire itself—it may be the Sky Nexus, but there are other settlements, other places in Xadia, even the canyons near the border, that are useful for learning about Sky arcanum philosophy and runes and rituals. They will have to travel elsewhere and eventually Ibis cannot put it off any longer, even if Callum is never _impatient_.

So Ibis is nervous the first time he _leaves_ the Spire, though, since Zubeia had fallen ill. Her health has more than returned, and the Dragonguard Rayla has half assembled is strong and receiving applicants every day. Logically, Ibis knows they will be fine. He left for a day on the verge of the Final Battle. Ten days to take Callum to the Weeping Fields of the Sky Plains in peacetimes won't make that much of a difference.

The last time he left the Spire, tragedy fell. Ibis cannot forget it so easily.

_iv._

He flies to the Spire as fast as he can, but in the end, Ibis is too late. Avizandum is turned to stone, dead and half crumbled across the way. The egg and mirror stolen, and Zubeia's fury makes the storm she brought home to hatch her egg with pale in comparison. She is grief and lightning incarnate, weeping like rain. The Dragonguard is gone, all having run.

Ibis thinks of the eight elves and their pride and duty, thrown aside in the face of dark magic that could kill the King of the Dragons, but— _Lain and Tiadrin_ , too? It doesn't make sense. They gave up raising their daughter for this position. Did they turn and run to go home to her? He's heard briefly of Moonshadow Ghosting rituals; would that even be possible? Or did they just run for purely their own lives, content with each other and their cowardice?

Ibis serves Zubeia's will more than ever even as he own fades, the mage fetching water and even some meagre food on days she is too depressed to hunt. The world roars back to life in springtime as she recedes from it. Her mate and only child—her baby, not even a hatchling— _gone_. The sky surrounding the spire turns warm with the first traces of summer, yet the antechamber stays cold.

Ibis tends to the Nexus and does his best not to leave his queen's side. He clears out the old Dragonguard rooms and burns some of the leftover belongings. He finds a half written letter to Rayla for her birthday in the upcoming year and almost tosses it in, too, but—his hand strays and tucks it beneath his robes, furled up possibly forever, against his better judgement. He waters the small garden in the inner most chamber, careful not to tread where the egg used to lay in its nest.

When she grows ill, and then asleep, Ibis is lost in more ways than one. There is so little he can do. There is so much he doesn't know.

(One more thing Ibis does not know: in four months time, Rayla will kiss her boyfriend goodbye and clap his teacher on the shoulder and offer an understanding smile. "Don't worry Ibis," she'll say, warm and confident like her mother; steady and sure like her father. "We'll take care of them."

And somewhere deep down, Ibis knows she is also saying, _We will take care of you._ )

_vii._

Many bird migrations pass over the Spire in springtime. Ibis watches the flocks come and go, a flurry of movement on the Spire in the years before the egg and Dragonguard, in the years after. Most of the migrations are annual, but not all—if anything would break 'convention,' he supposes, it would be Xadia birds, but they are _always_ beautiful and brightly coloured. Sometimes they build temporary nests in the mountain's crevices, beautiful, creative little things, but they never stay too long.

Which is to say: Callum and Rayla do not stay forever, and Ibis always knew this day would come.

They're twenty and twenty-one now, grown, and he's learned from them as much as he's taught them. He doesn't have to look down much to meet Callum in the eye anymore, as his oldest and favourite student hugs him goodbye. Somehow, although his chest aches, Ibis finds it easier to let go of him. Perhaps because they share the same arcanum, and freedom is as essential to sky as anything else. He always knew one day Callum would fly off and find whatever potential he hadn't already achieved. He'll do great things, Ibis knows. He already has.

Saying goodbye to Rayla is somehow more difficult, even if she is leaving her captainship to in good hands to her newly promoted, former second in command. Her hands link together at his back, like the beads she and her parents wore around their hips. She's grown into an impressive young woman, sure of herself and happy with her place in the world. The Dragonguard has found itself too, in this new world—in this bright and bold, younger generation.

"You parents would be so proud of you," he whispers.

Rayla pulls away with a teary smile. "Thank you," she says. Then she takes Callum's hand and laces their fingers together.

Ibis watches them go.

And it takes three years of letters, and a wedding at the Silvergrove, but they do come back to visit him at the Spire one spring with their own little flock—who call him _Uncle_ Ibis once they can.


End file.
